Obama defiant in Ohio: 'We are not going to gut this law'

11/14/13 4:15 PM EST

President Obama shifted from near-apology to defiance Thursday as he insisted that the Affordable Care Act's problems will be fixed and that he won't yield to political pressures.

"We are not going to gut this law," Obama said in Cleveland, Ohio, during a broader economic speech in which he attempted to cast the health law as just one piece of his efforts to put the economy and the middle class on more solid footing. "We will fix what needs to be fixed, but we're going to make the Affordable Care Act work and those who say they are opposed to it and can't offer a solution, we will push back."

The president's remarks came after he offered a midday mea culpa in a White House press conference, repeatedly saying that he and his team had "fumbled" in launching HealthCare.gov and in promises that consumers would be able to keep insurance plans they liked. By the time he got to Cleveland a few hours later, Obama was still conceding the "fumble" but had already gotten back up and had moved on to running the next play.

"There is no question the rollout of the Affordable Care Act was much tougher than we expected, but I want everybody here to understand I am going to see this through," he said. "I want millions of Americans to make sure that they are are not going broke when they get sick and they can go to a doctor when their kid gets sick and we are not apologizing for that. We are are going to get this done."

Obama's travel last week to him to states with Republican governors who have refused to agree to expand Medicaid in their states, but in Ohio, he was able to point to Gov. John Kasich, a Republican who has worked with the administration to get more of his state's residents covered under the federal program.

"It's fair to say the governor didn't do it because he just loves me so much," Obama said, but because Ohioans deserve access to health care.